Megalodontidae

Megalodontidae

Uncredited · via Wikidata/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
MegalodontoideaPBDB
Diet
suspension feederPBDB
Life habit
semi-infaunalPBDB
Motility
stationaryPBDB
Vision
blindPBDB

Time the record covers

At least 283 million years on record.

The record covers at least 432.9 Mya to 149.2 Mya. No occurrence read is dated outside 443.1 Mya to 145.06 Mya.

Ordovician — about 0 of 319 occurrencesSilurian — about 11 of 319 occurrencesDevonian — about 14 of 319 occurrencesDevonianCarboniferous — about 0 of 319 occurrencesPermian — about 3 of 319 occurrencesPermianEarly Triassic — about 0 of 319 occurrencesMiddle Triassic — about 14 of 319 occurrencesLate Triassic — about 255 of 319 occurrencesLate TriassicEarly Jurassic — about 18 of 319 occurrencesEarly JurassicMiddle Jurassic — about 0 of 319 occurrencesLate Jurassic — about 4 of 319 occurrencesEarly Cretaceous — about 0 of 319 occurrences449–439 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences439–428 Mya — about 7 occurrences428–418 Mya — about 3 occurrences418–408 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences408–397 Mya — about 1 occurrence397–387 Mya — about 4 occurrences387–377 Mya — about 5 occurrences377–366 Mya — about 3 occurrences284–273 Mya — about 1 occurrence273–263 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences263–253 Mya — about 2 occurrences253–242 Mya — about 4 occurrences242–232 Mya — about 50 occurrences232–222 Mya — about 57 occurrences222–211 Mya — about 74 occurrences211–201 Mya — about 84 occurrences201–191 Mya — about 6 occurrences191–180 Mya — about 12 occurrences180–170 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences160–149 Mya — about 2 occurrences149–139 Mya — about 2 occurrences432.9 Mya149.2 Mya449 Mya139 Mya

319 occurrences of Megalodontidae on record, most of them in the Late Triassic. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

319 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

64 formations

Dachstein Limestone — 47.31°N, 17.88°EDachstein Limestone — 47.36°N, 17.82°EDachstein Limestone — 47.64°N, 18.42°EDachstein Limestone — 47.65°N, 18.65°EDachstein Limestone — 47.66°N, 18.67°EDachstein Limestone — 47.54°N, 19.01°EDachstein Limestone — 47.32°N, 17.82°EDachstein Limestone — 47.64°N, 18.32°EDachstein Limestone — 47.71°N, 18.53°EDachstein Limestone — 47.72°N, 18.57°EFődolomit — 47.11°N, 17.91°EFődolomit — 47.59°N, 18.62°EFődolomit — 47.49°N, 19.03°EFődolomit — 46.93°N, 17.40°EFődolomit — 46.97°N, 17.31°EFődolomit — 47.11°N, 17.82°EFődolomit — 47.38°N, 18.34°EFődolomit — 47.17°N, 17.94°EDolomia Principale — 46.52°N, 12.02°EDolomia Principale — 46.53°N, 12.15°EDolomia Principale — 45.75°N, 10.08°EDolomia Principale — 45.93°N, 9.57°ECassian — 46.68°N, 12.15°ECassian — 46.64°N, 12.20°ECassian — 46.53°N, 11.92°ECassian — 46.54°N, 11.62°ECassian — 46.57°N, 11.94°EDolomia stratificata — 46.52°N, 12.02°EDolomia stratificata — 46.62°N, 12.25°EDolomia stratificata — 46.53°N, 12.15°EDachstein — 46.49°N, 12.11°EDachstein — 46.45°N, 12.25°EDachstein — 46.52°N, 12.22°EDachstein — 46.61°N, 12.00°EFödolomit — 47.51°N, 18.48°EJiapila — 33.88°N, 91.08°EJiapila — 28.74°N, 88.69°EDachstein — 47.45°N, 13.07°EDachstein — 47.57°N, 13.20°EDachstein — 47.55°N, 13.63°EMassenkalk — 51.12°N, 7.90°EMassenkalk — 51.00°N, 7.17°EMassenkalk — 48.89°N, 11.94°EZu Limestone — 46.00°N, 10.00°ECalcari Grigi — 45.58°N, 10.98°ECalcari Grigi — 45.87°N, 11.38°EAugusta Mountain — 39.61°N, 117.49°WWetterstein — 46.63°N, 13.68°EWetterstein — 47.30°N, 11.37°EWetterstein — 47.30°N, 11.34°EHauptdolomit — 46.62°N, 12.31°EHauptdolomit — 45.83°N, 10.64°EHauptdolomit — 47.75°N, 13.21°ELeduc — 53.55°N, 113.50°WKlenova — 71.00°N, 58.00°EIhmert — 51.26°N, 7.65°EShaimak — 37.50°N, 74.50°ERiva di Solto — 46.00°N, 10.00°EConchodon — 46.00°N, 10.00°ESumra — 25.80°N, 56.10°EBabino — 42.68°N, 23.32°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Megalodontidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 40 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 46 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Megalodontidae and its relatives

Late Triassic

Where Megalodontidae and its relatives were recorded in the Late Triassic.

Found in the same rock

2,233 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 144 sites for Megalodontidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

80 references

Each of the 319 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 68 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Megalodontidae

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Megalodontidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMegalodontoidea through timeFormations of the Late TriassicThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Morris 1853